The present invention is directed to a portable, foldable toilet apparatus that may be attached to tree trunks and be used by campers, outdoor persons and others in a wilderness environment where there are no plumbing facilities.
In the prior art, Wittman, U.S. Pat. No. 1,306,041 (1919), discloses a sanitary, portable toilet stool, which may be carried by automobile tourists or others for easy, quick set-up and knock-down upon making or breaking camp. This "camp toilet" comprises two board-like members, one being a front support or front board, which is hinged at its upper edge to the front edge of the other board member or seat member in which two toilet openings are provided. The hinge enables the two board members to form a compact body for convenient transport and storage, and also enables the two board members to be unfolded at right angles with respect to each other for use as a toilet seat for one or two persons at the same time. The front board or front support is provided along its upper edge at the center of the front board with a slot for receiving therethrough an anchor and seat supporting board. The anchor and seat supporting board extends along the underside surface of the seat member and through the slot provided in the front board for suitable connection, as by a flexible tie member, to any available tree trunk or other vertical standard. In this manner the anchor and seat supporting board serves to support the seat member in its open horizontal position and anchors the toilet to the tree trunk or other vertical standard to prevent tipping over of the structure, while the front support or front board, the bottom edge of which rests upon the ground, serves to support the weight of one or two persons sitting upon the seat member over the toilet openings.
The Strong patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,324 (1992), also discloses a portable collapsible toilet seat for use in wilderness areas. The seat member, which is a metal stamping in the configuration of a conventional toilet seat and made from aluminum for lightness, is directly connected to the trunk of a tree for partial support of the toilet seat by a clamp mechanism carried at the rear edge of the seat member. The clamp mechanism includes a steel plate, the rear edge of which is concave to conform to the contour of a tree and is also serrated to penetrate the bark of the tree to hold the plate and thus the toilet seat at a desired level above the ground. Flexible straps, including a buckle structure, are attached to the steel plate for placing around the tree trunk and a manually-operated strap tensioner element serves to cause the serrated edges of the steel plate to dig or bite into the tree bark so as to anchor the seat member to the tree trunk. A foldable leg structure, the bottom edge of which is designed to rest upon the ground and provide the remaining support for the toilet seat, is pivotally connected to the undersurface of the seat member at its front edge so as to support the seat member at its rear edge by a diagonally extending foldable brace structure, and also to support the seat member near its front edge. The leg structure can be folded against the undersurface of the seat member for compact transport and storage. This toilet apparatus is designed to support in seated position one person at a time.
The Watson patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,105 (1993), discloses a portable toilet seat and stand for wilderness camping. This patent discloses two seat bars, which serve the function of a toilet seat; two cross pieces, which connect as an assembly the seat bars at the forward and rearward ends thereof and also determine the spacing between the seat bars; four leg poles, which connect at their respective upper ends to the assembly of the two seat bars and the two cross-pieces, and connect at their respective lower ends to two longitudinal feet that are designed to rest upon the ground and also have sufficient surface area to prevent the toilet unit from sinking into the soft ground. The toilet unit is designed to rest upon the ground for support of one person at a time using the unit. The whole structure of this toilet unit is designed to be completely assembled from or disassembled into their individual parts so that the parts may be bundled together in a very small space and placed in a stuff bag having a draw cord. Watson discloses that the proper use of his invention will keep exposed parts of the human body well above ground level and substantially reduce the risk of acquiring a deer tick, which otherwise may cause Lyme disease.
The Appleby patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,526 (1994), discloses a hammock style campers' toilet seat designed to be used in a wilderness area and strung between two trees for use by campers. The toilet seat is formed of flexible material and has a toilet opening, and has a stiffener ring having a greater stiffness than the toilet opening to lend stiffness and support to the seat about the toilet opening. The stiffener ring is sufficiently resilient so that the toilet seat may be rolled up to a compact form. A rope is tied to each end of the toilet seat and the other end of each rope is tied to a separate tree. The height of the tied connection to the trees has to be of sufficient height to allow some stretch of the ropes due to the weight of the person sitting upon the toilet seat so that the person may remain sufficiently elevated above the ground when using the toilet seat.
An object of applicant's invention is to provide a toilet apparatus for use in wilderness areas and that may be readily attached to and detached from a suitable sized tree trunk and at a sufficient height above the ground so as to enable the person to rest his or her feet upon the ground while sitting upon the toilet apparatus, but still be sufficiently elevated so as to keep exposed parts of the human body well above ground level and reduce the risk of acquiring a deer tick.
Another object of the invention is to provide a toilet apparatus that may be readily attached to a suitable sized tree trunk in such manner as not to cause any damage to the tree trunk.
A further object of the invention is to provide a toilet apparatus that is simply constructed to be folded into a compact structure for transport and storage, as well as to have a minimum amount of surface area so as to be easily cleaned.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a toilet apparatus wherein the longitudinal seat members forming the toilet seat upon which a person is to sit may be readily adjustable laterally with respect to each other to accommodate children as well as different sizes of adult persons.